Education and Training

One of the government's three minimum requirements for a victimized company to be able to claim trade secret protection under the Economic Espionage Act is the education and training of all company employees as to what constitutes a trade secret.

What this means is simply this: If one of your employees leaves to join a competitor firm, or starts his or her own business, and in the process leaves your employ with one or more of your most valuable trade secrets in his pocket, if he he can claim "ignorance," you may be out of luck in trying to get the trade secret back or to prevent him from using it to his advantage. If, for example, he can honestly say he was never educated as to what is a trade secret, and he never received any training in the proper care and handling of trade secrets, he may be able to successfully argue that you have no valid claim against him.

And he may be right.

There are many variables, but this much is absolute: The Economic Espionage Act spells out in clear, unambiguous language the three minimum hurdles that any business must meet in order to claim protection:

Identify, value and quantify their trade secrets.

Take reasonable steps to protect their trade secrets.

Educate their employees about how to protect trade secrets.

We can customize Education and Training Programs for your company, large or small, publicly traded or privately held, single or multiple locations.